1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to systems and methods of managing profile data for a plurality of computers and, more particularly, to systems and methods of managing user access to the profile data and associated reports.
2. Background Information
A computer profile includes computer configuration data, such as data that identifies the computer hardware and software. The profile may also include other information, such as, for example, associated software license information, performance data, and other user specified data. In a prior system for managing a computer information database that contains computer profile data, a profile group managing server manages the data according to a tree-structured grouping of the computers. The tree structure, which is designated by the system administrator, may, for example, follow the organizational chart of a company, with the top level node, or group, corresponding to the company and lower level nodes, or groups, corresponding to the various branch offices, and so forth. In the example, the computers may be grouped according to their IP subnets that correspond to the branch offices. The profile group managing server then manipulates the profile data to produce reports that summarize the attributes of the computers at every group level, with reports for a given group including the profile data for all computers in the sub-tree that has the group as its root.
The system controls access to profile data records, and thus, access to reports, through user login groups. The respective login group of a user specifies that the user has access to profile data for that computer group and any subgroups thereof. As an example, a user in a particular branch office has as a login group the associated branch office group, and so has access to the profile data of computers that are included in the associated branch office group and any subgroups thereof. The user does not, however, have access to the profile data of computers in peer groups, or superior groups, such as the company group, which includes all of the computers in the company. In contrast, a user in the company head office that has the company group as his login group has access to the profile data provided by the computers in the company group. One such computer information database management system is the BelManage system (version 6) produced by Belarc, Inc., of Maynard, Mass., which is the Assignee of the current invention.
The user login groups work well to control user access to computer profile data based on groupings of the computers. It may also be desirable to delegate administrative authority among the various groups, such that, for example, selected users in various offices of a company have access to system features relating to adding new users, adding sub-groups, and so forth. In this way, the users selected in the various departments or branch offices of the company can make timely changes to the system operations, to reflect changes in the personnel and organization of the company, the branch offices, and so forth. An important requirement for proper operation of the system, however, is that the system provide secure access to both the profile data and the system administrative features that control the data.